The use of a uniform resource locator (URL) by a web browser to locate and retrieve a particular document that is stored in a particular location on one of thousands of computer systems all connected to a network is well-known. The use of a URL in this instance is satisfactory for documents that are located where they are expected.
However, if a document is moved, deleted or modified, the URL may become inappropriate for the document. The URL may be inappropriate because the document no longer resides at the location specified, or the document that resides at the location specified is not the one that was available when the URL was specified.
In some instances, the document specified not only resides at the specified location, but in one or more other locations besides the specified location. Sometimes, it is advantageous to find these documents in the alternate locations.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for better management of documents distributed over multiple computers on a network.